RaDos High
by Pennan Inque
Summary: When Adam is kicked out of his fourth high school, he has no where left to go but RaDos High School. There he will make new friends, new enemies, and lots of trouble –all the while trying to get the attention of the girl of his dreams as he tries not to get kicked out. AU Adam/Mel/Seth with a lot of other pairings thrown together. It is high school after all! Drama and humor galore
1. ALWAYS Go to the Left

You know you're a delinquent when the first thing that pops into your head when you see your illustrious new high school is "man, how epic would it be to TP this bad boy?"

And here I was, standing in front of the extensive and impressive boarding school that I would now call home, thinking about how many rolls of toilet paper it would take to cover all the buildings and how fast I could do it.

RaDos High School was a massive campus that consisted of one large hall for classes and 4 small dormitories on either side, totaling 9 buildings of opportunity. I wondered which I would deface first.

My foster dad seemed to read my thoughts as he caught me staring. He dropped my knapsack at my feet and sent me a stern look. "You are not to pull any dumb pranks while you're here, Adam. You have been kicked out of all four schools in the area and this is your last hope. If I hear from the principal that you're causing trouble, I'll pull you out myself and you'll have to work at The Order of Infinis restaurant until you're fifty. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," I said blandly.

"You want to work in the Special Forces, fine. But you have to graduate first. Don't disappoint me."

"I won't, father."

A tall man dressed completely in aquamarine came out to greet us from the main buidling. His black hair was pulled back into two high ponytails. And if that wasn't strange enough, his facial hair looked like it was styled by Genghis Khan. His eyes lit up in a friendly acknowledgement as he drew closer. "Brackus. Welcome, old friend."

"Hello, Alnar," my father greeted. "It's been a while."

"Yes," the man, Alnar, smiled. "I haven't seen you since our own days here at RaDos." His gaze landed on me. "Ah, and you must be Adam. We're very pleased to have you at the school."

"Uh, thanks," I said awkwardly. "It's… nice to be here, sir."

"Allow me to introduce myself properly. My name is Alnar. I will be your principal for the next two years."

"Oh…. Cool."

Alnar smiled. "Well, let's get you settled in. You're going to be staying in the Yin dorm. I believe room four is available if you wanted to drop your belongings off."

"Sure."

"Your father and I have some things to finalize, so we won't be able to accompany you. Though I'm sure a smart young man like yourself can find your way."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. You can meet us inside the Vitus Hall," Alnar said, gesturing to the large building in front of us. "We'll give you your class schedule and you can say goodbye to your father."

"Sounds good to me." I reached down and grabbed my bag, slinging it over my shoulder. "See ya later."

Alnar and my dad headed into the Vitus Hall and I made my way toward the dorms. There were two clusters, four on the right, and four on the left. Since Alnar didn't mention which direction the Yin dorm was, I was at a cross roads. "When in doubt, go to the left," I said to myself. It was a proverb I had found useful in the past and hoped it would bring me to the right place now.

As I got closer to the dorms, I started noticing weird symbols above each individual building. I saw a horseshoe with a dash through the middle of the arch, a "z" with a line down the center, a circle within a circle connected with two lines, and a singular "o" with four strokes coming form it like the scope of a gun. There were just the symbols on the buildings. No names, nothing.

I ventured up to one of the buildings, the one with the "z". I tried to find a name plate or sign or something. Anything to tell me what the stupid name of the dorm was. I went right up to the door, looking for an etching, a faded scribble, a hard to read-

"Whoa!"

"Oof!"

The door flung open and I was hit head-on by some hurried figure. Sheets of paper and pencils went flying as we fell backwards. My head whiplashed onto the ground and the grass did little to cushion the impact. I groaned.

Whoever was on top of me began a flurry of apologies. I figured it was a girl due to the pitch of the voice. "I am so sorry! I didn't mean to run into you! I was in a hurry! Are you okay? Oh my gosh, did you hit your head? Have you got a concussion? Oh, I'm _so_ sorry!"

I blinked a few times, my vision a little fuzzy. There was a blue form on me, blurred with a light brown. As things came into focus, I started making out different things. The figure had long silver hair styled with some sort of blue headband that matched the colour of her clothes. It seemed the light brown had been her skin. I was sure now that it was a girl, what with the facial structure, hair, and of course the two things pressing into my chest that could only be breasts. Her lips were in focus now, and her nose. Lastly her eyes, which were staring at me with rapt concern. I blinked a few more times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. She had the most beautiful shade of blue eyes I had ever seen. They were gems compared to my dull grey ones.

Her voice called to me again. "Are you alright?"

I groaned a little from the dull pain in my skull. "Mmm, yeah. How about you?"

"I'm okay. You took the blunt of the fall for me. I'm really sorry about running into you like that!"

"It's alright." There was a pause as neither of us knew what to say. Finally, I spoke. "Hey, not that it isn't fun to be pinned under you or anything, but didn't you say you were late?"

Her face flushed scarlet and she bolted off of me. She hastily began picking up her scattered items. "I've got class in two minutes! My alarm didn't go off this morning. I'm so dead."

I sat up and collected a few papers. "Here, let me help."

"Thank you!" We quickly gathered her things. "You're new right?"

"Yeah," I said, handing her a couple pencils. "My name's Adam."

"Thanks a lot, Adam," she smiled, taking them from me. She stood. "I really owe you. If there's anything I can help you with, let me know."

I got to my feet as well. "Actually, I'm having trouble finding my dorm."

"I'd say," she giggled. "You're on the girls' side." She pointed across the way to the second cluster of buildings. "Those are the boys' dorms."

"Thanks. Can you tell me which one is Yin?"

"The one that looks like a 'y'. You can tell which is your room by counting the number of horizontal strokes on-" She jumped as a bell rang inside of Vitus Hall. "Oh no! I'm late!" She ran off, calling over her shoulder, "Thanks again, Adam! See you around!"

"Hey wait!" I yelled. "What's your name?"

But my cry was lost in the wind and she was too far gone.

* * *

**AN: _Please_ tell me someone got the Order of Infinis pun! **


	2. KID Cole? Nice Name, Bro

As I made my way toward the guys' dorms, I caught something glittering from the corner of my eye. Kneeling down, I could see it was a jewel of some sort fastened on a dainty chain. A few more steps and I would have crushed it. I gently picked it up, inspecting it. The gem was a brilliant sapphire the size of an almond. A _very big_ almond. There's no way someone would just leave such a precious necklace in the grass. Something told me it belonged to that girl just now and had somehow fallen off when we collided. I stood and slipped the necklace into my pocket. I'd give it back to her the next time I saw her –and I was determined to see her again.

But first thing was first and I needed to find my dorm and my room.

I made it to the guys' dorms. The buildings all had symbols similar to the ones at the girls', but all I was concerned with was finding mine, the one that looked like a "y". It wasn't too hard to spot; a great big capitol "Y" with a dash through the stem. "'Y' as in Yin," I said to myself. "Easy enough."

The door creaked as I opened and closed it. Inside the dorm, vibrant, spherical lamps hung from the walls and the incredibly high ceiling. I walked a few paces into the risen foyer where a giant spiral staircase stood in the middle, branching off to different doors in the wall that I assumed where the rooms. The first floor had four doors labeled with odd markings. One had a stick with four lines through it accompanied with an oval that also had a line through it. The others had the same second symbol, the oval with the stroke, but on the first one, they had fewer dashes; three, two, one. I remembered the girl's words about knowing the rooms by the number of horizontal lines. So I figured the first room was five, four lines plus another, making the others four, three, and two. I guessed there was no "room one", as the first room was this foyer.

Alnar had said I should take room four, so I went to the door. Finding it unlocked, I pushed it open and was met with a shirt to the face.

"Get out!" A voice snarled. "No one said you could come in!"

I threw the shirt to the floor and got a good look at whoever was usurping my alleged room. He wasn't a very handsome looking guy, with greasy brown hair down to his shoulders tied back in a bandana. A few tattoos peeked from his clothes, which were dull and dank in colour and style. His features were gnarled in what seemed to be a permanent scowl. He sat on the bed like it was a throne and he threw a sock at me. "I said, get out."

I chose my words carefully. I wasn't about to start a fight and get kicked out my first day at this place. I hadn't even started classes. "Is this room four?"

"No," the guy sneered. "It's room thirteen."

"What the hell?" I grumbled to myself before remembering where I was. "Oh, sorry, man. I thought this was my new room. Dumb symbols on the door screwed me up."

"Stupid, aren't they?" he scoffed. "Whoever built this school really had a sick mind."

"Why can't they just use regular letters and numbers?" I asked, annoyed.

The guy shrugged. "It's part of some old language. The principal likes it too much to have it changed."

"Seems illogical to me."

"Tell me about it. You're not the first guy to get lost around here," he tossed me a can of cola from his bedside table. "Sorry about yelling at you before. I don't like trespassers."

"No big deal. Thanks for the pop."

"My name's Kid Cole. You new?"

"Yeah. I'm Adam."

"Well, Adam, what brings you to a pocketful of sunshine like RaDos?"

I smirked at his sarcasm and shrugged nonchalantly in response to his question. "My other schools didn't like me much."

"Kicked out, huh? I can relate. I've been through six schools the past six years, all for skipping classes."

"So what are you doing here, in your room?"

Kid Cole smirked haughtily. "Skipping classes."

A smirk of my own settled as I sipped the cola. "I bet all the girls here love the bad boy."

"You know it."

I set my backpack on Cole's messy floor and leaned against the wall. My teenage brain brought to mind the most important topic to men. "Speaking of girls, how's the pickings?"

"Slim," Cole frowned distastefully. "The only good ones are either taken or guarded."

I quirk an eyebrow. "Guarded?"

He sat up a bit, preparing what I guessed was a legend, or something similar. "There's this girl here –a goddess. She's the most popular girl in school. Straight 'A's, student council president, head cheerleader, the works. She's so brilliant, she's been nicknamed 'the Wizard of Yan'."

"Yan?"

"Her dorm. Anyhow she's the top of every guys' 'To Do List', if you know what I mean, but no one can even get close to her because of _him._"

"Who's '_him'_?"

"Her best friend, a.k.a. watchdog. He's around her nearly twenty-four, seven and never lets any guy besides their childhood friends near her. He's the captain of the football team and its star quarterback, but he's got enough respect in the school to not have to physically threaten anyone away. Just one glare gets them to back off. It's incredible… and sickening."

"I'm guessing you don't like him much."

"We have a history," Cole grumbled.

"So what's this girl's name?"

"Melosa, but her friends all call her Mel. You'll be lucky if you can breathe the same air as her."

My thoughts went back to the silver-haired girl from before, making this 'goddess' Cole was talking about seem to pale by comparison. "I'm not sure that I want to. She sounds a bit pretentious to me."

Cole shook his head. "That's the kicker. She's got everything a girl could want: beauty, intelligence, skills, popularity –and she doesn't let _any_ of it go to her head. She's the nicest person on campus. Even the girls can't bring themselves to be jealous or mean to her; she's just too sweet."

"Yeah, well I'll believe it when I see it." I finish the cola and chuck the can in a nearby garbage can. "Thanks again for the drink. I've got to get going before my old man comes to drag me to class. It was nice meeting you."

"Back at ya. You're an okay guy, Adam. Maybe we can hang out some time."

I smile. "Maybe."

* * *

**AN: For those who don't know about the "Sigil Alphabet" (where the numbers come from), just google "Di-Gata alphabet". Should come up.**


	3. Maybe She's a Little TOO Outgoing

After getting directions from Cole on how to find my room, I stashed my gear and left for the Vitus Hall. I wasn't too concerned about checking the room out. It looked pretty basic from the quick glance I got. There was a bed, a nightstand, a dresser; the essentials. I figured I'd have plenty of time to give it a thorough once over after classes. Right now I had to join back up with Alnar and my dad. I had learned long ago that Brackus had a short fuse and I wasn't about to try his patience.

The main doors of the Vitus hall had to be at least ten feet tall. They were large and wooden with silver loops instead of doorknobs, like they had been transferred from a castle. Another one of those weird symbols was chiseled into the stone above, looking like harpoon or drooping plant with two lines through the shaft. I sighed to myself. It was going to be a while before I got used to this school. Maybe I could find that girl from before and have her explain things to me.

I pulled the doors open with mild difficulty, thankful for all those times I went to the gym. I stepped inside and was surprised with what I saw.

The school wasn't a typical one, that was for sure. And while it looked old and mystical from outside, the inside was even more so. Spherical lamps like they had at the dorm could be found hanging helter-skelter along the corridors. The stones that made up the foundation were all of an odd, blue-tinged variety, making it seem like the building was underwater. The classroom doors were absent, leaving the noise free to travel and I wondered how any of the students could focus with such hubbub.

"Ah, Adam." Alnar appeared in a doorway off to the right, my dad joining him a few seconds later. "I trust you found your way alright."

"Yeah," I said sardonically. "No trouble at all."

"Your father and I have finished finalizing the details of your enrollment. This is your schedule." He handed me a piece of paper. "Period one is about to end, so when you're finished saying goodbye, you may head to period two. Shall we see your father out to his car?"

"That will not be necessary, Alnar," Dad said. "I'm quite capable of leaving by myself."

The principal wouldn't hear it and started bustling us to the doors. "But it's impolite not to see someone off. And besides, the halls will be crowded with students changing classes soon. You wouldn't want to bid farewell to your son in a mob, would you?"

He ushered us to the sidewalk where my father's car was waiting by a meter. He grasped Dad's hand, giving it a hearty farewell shake. "It was good to see you, Brackus. I hope you'll come visit Adam every once in a while."

"So long as he stays out of trouble, I don't think that will be required." His eyes darted to me in a warning before going back to the principal. "But it was good to see you too, Alnar. Thank you again for taking my son into your school."

"It was my pleasure. I'm sure he'll do wonderfully here," Alnar retracted his hand and turned back towards the Vitus Hall. "Well, I'll let you two say goodbye in peace. Have a safe journey, Brackus."

There was an awkward silence as my father and I were left standing alone. We weren't so good with goodbyes.

Finally my dad put his hand on my shoulder. "Study hard and stay out of trouble."

"I will," I said.

"Good," he removed his hand and went to the driver's door. "I'll call you around Christmas." And with that he got in the car and drove away.

I was used to these kind of curt send-offs. Brackus wasn't my real father after all. He had taken me in off the streets and shaped me to be a strong and respectable member of society. He was more of a mentor than a dad, and it seemed that he didn't really know how to act like a father at times. But he did what was best for me, and that's more than I can say for my real parents.

I looked over my schedule as I headed back to the Vitus Hall. The class that I had missed that morning had been English, which was just peachy considering I hated the subject. Who really needs grammar anyway? Not like I'm going to be writing things when I'm in the military.

Period two was Biology. I figured that wouldn't be too bad. Dissection was kinda cool.

I wandered around the halls, looking for the room number, 104. But to my chagrin, the classrooms were all numbered the same way as the ones in the dorm and I had no sweet clue how to figure out which combination of ovals and lines was "104". To make matters worse, the halls were empty. Guess the whole school was made up of keeners who wanted to get to class a.s.a.p.

I groaned and leaned against a wall. What the hell was wrong with this school?

"Hey, are you okay?"

I looked to my left to find a girl staring at me. She was small –at least a couple feet shorter than me. Her blonde hair was pulled up in a ponytail and she wore a dark green dress that set off her jade eyes. The strangest part about her was these bulky boots she wore on her feet. Dark green to match her dress, they looked almost mechanical, with blinking lights and some stray wires.

"Yeah," I said finally. "I'm just a little lost, that's all."

"New guy, huh?" She smiled. "Having trouble with the numerals?"

"If that's what you call the dumb symbols around here, then yes."

"The numerals are just the number symbols," she explained. "Here, let me see your time table." I handed it to her and she lit up almost instantly. "You've got Biology with me!"

"Great," I said. "You can tell me where the room is."

"Forget that, let's just go!" The girl snatched my hand and dragged me down the corridor. I struggled to match her pace so I wouldn't fall on my face. She walked fast in those enormous boots! Finally she stopped outside a classroom. "This is it. Room 104, Biology. Let's hurry up and find some seats before they're all taken."

I followed her into the class. A few students sat around the room, talking idly to themselves. High tables made of the same blue stone as the rest of the school littered the floor and had two wooden chairs per. Glass beakers and vials covered the countertops and chemical jars could be seen locked in cabinets. Near the front of the class was a table of microscopes. Though rustic, it still looked like a typical biology lab.

"Hey, over here!" The girl called, waving me over to a table. "We're in luck, two seats!"

As I had nowhere else to sit, I joined her. She hopped onto a chair, excitement gleaming on her features. "This is so awesome. I've been looking forward to biology since middle school, but because it's a third year course, I couldn't take it until now. Admittedly I'm only in grade 10, but because I've got good grades, Principal Alnar let me in." She grinned at me. "I'm Kara, by the way! What's your name?"

"Adam," I said.

"That's a nice name! So, Adam, how come you're transferring to RaDos in the middle of the term?"

"I didn't like my old school much."

"Oh, that's too bad. So, what do you think of RaDos instead?"

"It's alright. Though I've got to admit the symbols kind of piss me off."

Kara smiled encouragingly at me. "Don't worry, you'll get used to them."

I laughed hopelessly. "I doubt that."

"We've got some time before class starts. Why don't I teach you about them?"

"Uh, sure." I could probably use a lesson or two. "Okay."

She seemed pleased as she got out a piece of paper and pencil from her bag. "We'll go over the numerals first, since you seem to be having trouble with them." She drew four separate lines, each with a different amount of dashes through them; one, two, three and four. "The first set is easy. The number of strokes through the center of each line represents the number it stands for. Like this one," she pointed to the one with three lines, "is three."

Next she drew an oval with a dash on the top and on the bottom. "This is five, and this," she copied the same symbol but drew a stroke through the center, "is ten. You couple them together like Roman numerals to make higher numbers." She sketched a five and three side by side. "What's this one?"

"Eight," I guessed.

Kara beamed. "Good!" She drew three more ovals, one with two lines, one with three and one with four. "These are the fifty, one hundred and five-hundred. You do the same thing with them as with the lower numbers. Just combine them to make different numbers. Got it?"

I chuckled. "Yeah. By some act of a miracle, I do."

"Great! Now," she started scribbling some of the symbols I had seen before, "I bet you had trouble finding your dorm."

"You have no idea," I smiled.

She grinned. "The buildings here are named after the nine sigils of power from an old religion studied by some people called the Gatashin Monks. The founder of the school was a monk himself and Principal Alnar studied the religion in university as an elective. The main hall is 'Vitus'," she pointed to the harpoon-ish symbol from the front of the building. "It means renewal. The other eight are split between girls and boys. The girls have 'Sum', 'Ogama', 'Yan', and 'Altas', my dorm," she said, pointing to each symbol as she said their name. "The guys have 'Nega, 'Dako', 'Yin' and 'Infinis'. Each is paired with its symbolic opposite, but that's not really all that important. All that matters is that you match the sigil with its name. If you can do that, you'll be able to get around the campus no problem!"

I blinked a few times. "Would you mind going over them again? I may have zoned out during the first half."

She giggled. "Here, I'll write them all out for you as a cheat sheet."

"Thanks, Kara," I said, taking the sheet. "You're a life saver."

"No worries. Just don't expect any crib notes for tests!"


	4. Try Not to FLINCH

The class quieted down as a scraggly, hunched man walked through the door. He went to the front of the room and set his books down with a thud.

Kara leaned over and whispered, "That's Professor Flinch. He's the science teacher. He doesn't like kids much…"

As if to prove her right, the man snarled in a scratchy voice, "Alright you little brats, let's get this class over with. Stop your mingling and sit with your lab partners." Students begrudgingly got up from their seats and shuffled to different tables. Kara stayed put and I had nowhere to go. The teacher noticed. He stalked up to us. "You two! Did I not say that you were to get with your partners?"

"Cole's absent again, Mr. Flinch," Kara said. "I can't sit with him if he's not here."

"Fine. But you!" He whirled upon me. "I'm sure your partner isn't absent as well!"

"I don't have a partner," I said.

"Don't give me that!" he sneered. "I assigned everyone a lab partner at the beginning of the year."

"I wasn't here at the beginning of the year."

"Look kid, I'm trying to start a class here, so I don't care if you don't like your partner, get off your keister and go sit with them!"

I growled at the infuriating man. By now we'd caught the attention of the other students. Not that I cared. In fact, it gave me the opportunity to make myself known to the school. I suddenly got to my feet. Putting on my best mask of shock and apology, I grabbed his hand. "Beg pardon, Professor! I'm so sorry! I didn't realize your condition!"

"Wha-? Huh?" He stuttered, completely at a loss.

"How inconsiderate of me!" I continued, playing up the melodramatic guilt. "I feel totally awful! You should have said something!"

"What are you talking about?" he asked, trying to shake me off.

"You should have told me straight away, sir! I would never have been so insolent had I have known."

"Known of what?"

"Your condition, sir," I said simply.

He tore himself out of my grasp. "I have no condition!"

"No?" I said, pretending to be taken aback. "I'm sorry, Professor. I had thought for sure you had to be partially deaf or hard of hearing."

"Whatever for!?"

"You seemed to have not heard me earlier," I said, my eyes cold and my tone that of annoyed seriousness. "I said I wasn't here at the beginning of the year."

He seemed almost surprised by my gull. "Why you-"

I cut him off, tossing him the scrap of paper that had my time-table printed on it. "My name's Adam. I'm starting today. If you were too ignorant to check your roster, I'm sure the date of enrollment on my schedule will prove I'm telling the truth. But if you're really stubborn, I'm sure Principal Alnar will vouch for me. He and my dad, who are old friends by the way, just finished finalizing my paperwork this morning. Are we clear now?"

Flinch scanned and rescanned my sheet, clearly looking for some mistake or error to prove me wrong. When he couldn't find one, he slapped the paper onto the table in frustration. He glared at me. "It seems you are correct. Welcome to the class, _Adam_," he said my name with as much venom as he could.

"Thank you," I said perhaps a little too much condescending cheer. "I look forward to it."

His glower only made me feel better about myself. "You'll work with Kara today. I imagine Kid Cole won't be coming."

I smiled cheekily. "Yes, sir."

He skulked back to the front of the class.

Kara leaned over to give me an incredulous smile. "Talk about a silver tongue! You were almost done for."

"What can I say?" I grinned. "I've got charm."

"More like luck. I'm pretty sure if you hadn't have mentioned that Alnar was friends with your dad, Flinch would have tanned your hide!"

"But I did and he didn't," I said, leaning back in my chair. "I think it's safe to say I'm going to be his new favorite student."

Kara snorted.

I learned through the period that she was incredibly smart for her age. All these terms and procedures I had never heard before, she understood perfectly and even managed to quickly whisper easy definitions and explanations to me while Flinch wasn't looking. She was like a super computer for biologists. I wished I had her brain.

The bell rang and the period ended. I had officially made it through a class with only one close call. A personal best.

As we packed up our things, Kara said, "Next period is lunch. If you want I can show you around."

"If it's not too much trouble," I said, smiling gratefully.

She gave me teasing, pointed look. "That will likely depend on if you can keep out of it."

I smirk. "I make no promises."

We left the classroom and meandered through the halls towards the main entrance. Students brushed past us in an excited hurry. They all seemed to be heading somewhere behind us. "Where's everyone going?" I asked Kara.

"The cafeteria. The mess hall is at the back of the school."

"And we're not going there because…?"

"Because while the food there is alright, I've got something better." She pulled a large food container from her bag. "I figured we'd eat first, and then I'd show you around later."

"Sounds good to me. I'm starving!"

We made it out of the school and looked around for somewhere to eat. Kara pointed to a little stone gazebo off the courtyard between dorms. "Why don't we sit over there?"

She set the container on one of the benches and sat down. The gazebo was a perfect spot. The roof kept the hot sun off and the lack of walls let a refreshing breeze rustle our hair.

A heavenly aroma wafted through the air as Kara opened the lid of the Tupperware. It drew me closer and I sat beside it, gazing longingly at the food inside. "What _is_ that?"

"A little something my friend whipped up. She's a fantastic cook!"

"I'll vouch for that if smell is any indication."

"Why not just rely on taste?" Kara asked, passing me a plastic fork. She shoved it into my hands when I seemed reluctant to take it. "Help yourself. There's plenty here. Mel always seems to make too much."

"Mel?"

"My friend. She's the one who made this."

"Oh."

"Just dig in, will you? You're drooling."

I didn't know if I wanted to eat anything that this "Mel" cooked, but in the end by stomach won out. The food was so good I completely forgot how pompous the girl seemed. Instead all I could think about was how I wanted her to be my personal chef. Though my brain still held some hostility. It came out when I asked Kara, "If she's your friend, then how come she's not having lunch with you?"

"Normally she does. She makes a great big batch of food and we all have a picnic somewhere on the school grounds. But today's Monday and she has cheerleading practice during most of lunch."

"Who's 'we'?" I asked through a mouthful of food.

"My brother, Mel and our other friend Seth. We grew up together. We're really close and we try to get together whenever we can. But on Mondays, we have to go our separate ways. Mel has cheerleading, Seth's got football, and my brother Erik tends to spend the lunch hour in shop class."

I swallowed. "Don't you do anything? Sports or cheerleading?"

"Nah," she said with a sad smile. "My legs don't let me. I got into an accident when I was little and they wound up semi paralyzed. I can't control them well."

I dropped the forkful of food I had back into the container in surprise. "Then how do you…"

"Walk?" she asked. "My big brother is an inventor. He spent half a year working on these boots I'm wearing. He's tried to explain to me how they work, but all I understand is that they let me use my legs. He says that they're breakable though, so I stay out of athletics."

"So what do you do for fun?"

"I enrolled into some art classes after the incident. I sketch and paint when I'm bored. My boyfriend keeps me company too, when he's not busy."

I quirked an eyebrow. "You've got a boyfriend?"

"Yup! His name is Rion. We met a few years ago."

"Maybe you should have brought that up a little sooner," I teased. "What if I thought that your friendliness was a form of flirting and I've fallen for you?"

"You're so full of it, Adam," she laughed. "I can tell for a fact that you don't like me like that."

"Oh yeah?"

"I can see it in your eyes. You're not interested in me. You've got someone else you fancy." An involuntary blush crept up my face, proving to Kara that she was right. "I knew it. Common spill! What's her name?"

I sighed and mumbled to myself, giving up on food as my stomach was suddenly doing flip-flops. "If only I knew."

* * *

**Today is my birthday. I'm 19 years old now!**

**As a present, leave me some ****reviews****. **


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